What is a black box?

Telematics insurance policies - also known as black boxes - are a great way for young drivers to cut premiums.

They use GPS tracking data to know where, when and how fast you're driving.

For 17 to 20 year olds, fitting a black box can save an average of £202 a year on car insurance premiums.

The policies are often tied up with an app that provides a feedback score at the end of a journey.

Drive safely and score well and you can be rewarded by even cheaper premiums in the future or other rewards.

Analysis of the data can reveal locations, speeds and crash impact to reveal all.

For example, some drivers make claims for accidents when they were never in the place - or for a serious injury in a low speed shunt.

These two cases show how Insurethebox saved thousands and beat the fraudsters.

Crash-for-cash

Five people submitted claims after a Mercedes ML braked suddenly and was hit by a black box policyholder in a BMW 3 Series.

The policyholder presented a claim for the loss of his vehicle and his passengers submitted claims for injuries they supposedly sustained.

Additionally, the Mercedes driver claimed for personal injury, also the loss of his vehicle and a raft of other alleged losses totalling over £30,000. His passenger also made a claim for personal injury.

However, the various versions of events presented by the drivers and passengers involved in the incident were inconsistent with one another.

Excess damage

Accident reports provided by the policyholder and the claimant – a driver of a BMW M Sport - appeared to match the data recorded by the telematics device.

However, investigations began when Insurethebox saw the severity and nature of the damage to the BMW did not match the crash data recorded by the telematics device in the policyholder’s Hyundai.

Further investigations identified crash alerts after the accident had allegedly taken place, suggesting the policyholder’s car was being used to increase the scale of damage to the BMW.

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In fact, the BMW had been subjected to a series of deliberate collisions in a separate location after the accident, and forensic investigations also identified the BMW had been hit at least five times with a hammer in an attempt to increase the value of the claim.

The courts ruled against both parties involved and stopped a vehicle damage claim for £87,921 -including £79,114 in credit hire costs - and recovered over £70,000 in legal costs.